


Apart

by babieblu



Category: TOMORROW X TOGETHER | TXT (Korea Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Characters, Alternate Universe - Military, Chef Soobin, Enlistment, Head Chef Taehyun, Head soldier Yeonjun, M/M, Major Huening Kai, Soldier Beomgyu, a little bit of skz cus why not, i dont really know where this story is going so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:21:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23307472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babieblu/pseuds/babieblu
Summary: Where Beomgyu is a soldier, and Taehyun is the head chef for the army. They never noticed each other’s presence until one day Beomgyu made a mistake and receive a punishment to help on the kitchen instead on the field. Beomgyu thought he will find misery in the midst of the steamy kitchen, but then he found something else.
Relationships: Choi Beomgyu/Kang Taehyun, Choi Soobin/Choi Yeonjun
Comments: 4
Kudos: 65





	1. Chapter 1

_Hell forgot to lock their doors,_ he thought.

The sun is burning down his presence. Blazing with a scorching heat. He stands in the middle of a field, without any trees to cover his head from the searing light. Dry—too dry until he can see an oasis far from where he stood. A pool of clear water and a coconut tree shading it. It looks so _beautiful_ he almost run towards it.

But then he shakes his head almost brutally, and the vision of the pool is gone.

He already stood there for almost two hours now, obeying all the instructions his coach gave him. Him and twenty other young men that surround him, as tired as him. With an enormous bagpack weighed on his back, a heavy helmet on his head, and a fully loaded gun swinging on his shoulder, gave him a total 15 kg weight on his rather small figure.

The coach in front of the soldiers blabber about how to survive in an open field like this. How they must be quick to respond to attacks, and hide when they’re cornered. _Or run when they can’t take it anymore._

The whole paragraph of the procedurs made his head dizzy, and his vision blurry. His whole body is damp. Stink, that’s for sure. He wondered how many litres of sweat he lost today.

“That’s it for now. See you after lunch, soldiers. Dismissed!” His trail of thoughts were stopped by his coach’s last instruction. A silent sigh of relieve can be heard around him. Even he heaved a tired breath from his lungs.

“Salute!” The head soldier shouted to the rest of them. In sync, they saluted to the coach. Not even a second after that, all of the young men run towards the nearest tree they could find and plopped their arse on the ground, reaching for a water bottle inside the bag.

He chugged his water down his throat. He almost choked but he managed to control it.

“Slow down, Beomgyu. No one’s going to take your water from you.” Yeonjun—the head soldier, chuckled. He sit beside the younger and drink his water as well.

“It’s really hot today, Yeonjun. I even saw an oasis there.” Beomgyu pointed his finger to the spot where he saw the pool of water. Yeonjun laughed, louder this time. He pat Beomgyu’s helmet, “I can’t blame you, it is really hot today.”

“I hope they serve something cold at lunch later.” Beomgyu fixed his misplaced helmet and put his empty bottle inside his bag.

Yeonjun stands up and reaches out to Beomgyu, “speaking of it, let’s head back and take a shower, shall we? It’s almost lunch time.”

***

“Come on, people! 15 minutes until lunch time! Those soldiers have a grumbling stomaches to fill in, don’t make them wait!”

The shout that came out from the head chef’s lips torn out the steamy air on the kitchen. Making all human being inside fasten their steps and hands, preparing a feast for soldiers whom slowly beginning to fill the hall.

“Chef Kang, do you want to put the pudding outside now?” Holding one of the pudding trays, he fast-walked towards the head chef.

“Later, Mr. Choi. Put it out 5 minutes before lunch time, so it will still be cold when it’s served. It’s like a desert out there. We have 7 minutes left. Let’s go!” He clapped both of his hands at the end of his sentence.

The so-called Mr. Choi put his pudding tray back into the fridge. Small running to the nearest cooking station, he grab a big tray of soup and bring it out from the kitchen to the now full hall.

Kang Taehyun—the head chef checked his wristwatch. _Five and a half minutes to go,_ he thought. He made sure everything is on place. Chefs and workers started to bring out the foods, making the eyes of hungry soldiers curious of what will be their lunch today.

“Five minutes,” he called out, “Choi Soobin, you can put out the puddings now!”

“Roger, chef!” Soobin runs towards the fridge and pull out trays of delicious looking fruit puddings. He rushed out of the kitchen—almost slipping his steps, but Taehyun managed to grab his back and arm. Preventing him to make a world-class chaos in his kitchen doorways.

Taehyun managed to whisper a small _be careful_ before he shooed Soobin out of his kitchen. Soobin shouted a _sorry_ while he run towards the end of the food counter to put those puddings. All eyes are on him appearantly, or not. Those puddings are more attractive to the soldier’s eyes.

“1 minute people!” Taehyun’s blaring voice could be heard from the entire kitchen. Everything is already set in place. Only back-up foods that could be found in the kitchen. All workers already set on their assigned stations. The dining cutlery is ready on the first station. Clean and ready to be used. _Perfect._

Sound of a ringing bell succeded to silent the crowded dining hall. It’s lunch time.

Taehyun hurrily came out from the kitchen and helped his workers to serve the foods. He is the head chef, it’s not his job to get his hand on the serving-part. But he still does it, it gives him a little happiness to see the soldiers lit up eyes seeing his foods being put in their trays, and munched delightly. Saying thank you everytime they finished.

It seems today, Soobin’s stations received the most smile, and the most crowd. So Taehyun decided to help him. Getting out new trays of pudding if the ones on the counter is already empty. Soobin is a little bit overwhelmed with the crowd, but with the help of his head chef, he managed to deal with it.

When the crowd died down and their adrenaline slowed down from their veins, Soobin turned his head towards Taehyun, “thank you, Chef Kang.” Smiling sweetly at him.

Taehyun leaned towards the counter and smiled back, “no problem, Mr. Choi.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Are you sure you will eat all of these?” Yeonjun tilted his head in confusion while pointing to a stack of fruit puddings in front of Beomgyu.

“Obviously,” Beomgyu rolled his eyes, “it is fruit puddings!”

“I can see that.” Yeonjun decided not to bother with it anymore. He knows Beomgyu will eat all of it anyway. He even ate his third cup of pudding, and there are two more left on the table.

Beomgyu didn’t waste any time when he saw trays of pudding being carried out from the kitchen. He immediately get in line and asked as many cups as he could bring. He didn’t care about the crowd that was staring at him as if he was a guy that never saw a squishy and shiny pudding in a cup before.

Even the worker behind that pudding station was surprised when he saw this soldier asked for as many pudding as he could get him. Then absent-mindedly he gave him five cups. Beomgyu was more than happy that he put the biggest grin he can do, “thank you so much, Mr. Chef! You made my day.” Then he walked to his table, with arms full of pudding.

Yeonjun, who was just sitting down after grabbing his main course, shook his head while seeing Beomgyu grinning widely because of a pudding. His eyes were shining like a ten year old kid that was given a new plushie by his mother.

“Don’t judge me,” Beomgyu told him, munching on his pudding. The taste of the cold, yet silky texture running down his throat. Sweet blooming inside his mouth. Satisfaction painted across his face.

Out of curiosity—and because he finished his main course—Yeonjun grabbed his pudding and took a spoonful of it, “oh, yeah. Wow, no wonder you can’t get it enough of it. This is oddly satisfying and sweet and everything good. Just like the one who served it.”

Beomgyu nodded happily, but then his eyes went wide when he realized something, “just like—what?”

“Nothing,” Yeonjun just shrugged and continue munching his pudding. Beomgyu decided not to bother about it any longer. Not now, at least.

The rest of their lunch went by peacefully. Filled by small talks and laugh. Sometimes ranting about how Yeonjun gets so strict when it came to practice, even to Beomgyu. Yeonjun will laugh at it, of course, “It’s my responsibility, Gyu.”

“I know, I know, head soldier Choi,” Beomgyu rolled his eyes lazily.

They’ve known each other since first day of training. Both of them were put in the same pain and misery. They’ve felt ups and downs together. Without realizing, both of them relied each other in order to survive days in the army. They are each other’s support system.

When Yeonjun was assigned to be the head soldier, Beomgyu couldn’t get any happier, he ran along the field screaming,

_“My friend is the head of the soldier, thank god he got the brain now!”_

And received a smack on his head by his dearest friend, Choi Yeonjun.

***

Silent, that’s all he could hear.

Sitting in the middle of now empty dining hall, Taehyun put his head on the table. He sighed a tired breath from his lungs. The adrenaline that was flowing down his veins, slowly left his body.

Everyone in this room has left. Lunch time is over, and training time is back. All chefs and workers took their break before facing another rush, preparing for the next meal time, dinner. Including the head chef itself.

Maybe, he’s tired. But he’s happy. It seems his lunch menu today fulfilled a lot of people’s hopes. A lot of whispers and chatters were heard around the dining hall earlier, complementing his foods. He smiled a little, recalling it.

He felt someone coming beside him, so he looked up. He met a smiling face of his chef, Choi Soobin.

“Tired aren’t we, Chef Kang?” Soobin sat beside him. Smile never left his face.

“Since when we’re not, Mr. Choi?” Soobin chuckled a bit upon hearing his comeback.

“And it seems your pudding receive a whole heart from those soldiers, Soob.” Taehyun show both of his thumbs up. Showing proudness.

Soobin shakes his head, “but it’s your recipe, Taehyun.”

“Still, you’re the one who made it. So it’s on you this time.” Taehyun pat his back.

Truthfully, not only this time. Maybe it was every time Soobin lay his hands on those sweet and mixed up ingredients. Turning them into a rich-flavored desserts. It’s his comfort zone. His war area. His hands contains magic, only for cakes and cold desserts.

Taehyun thought that his ability to make such delightful desserts could bring him to a five-star restaurants. Or maybe open his own café. It would be a pleasure to see him work on his own kitchen.

But instead he chose to work on a military kitchen. Following his fellow’s step, Kang Taehyun.

“Thank you, I think? If it wasn’t for you, I won’t be able to get a difference between sugar and salt,” he winced at the thought.

Taehyun chuckled lightly, reminiscing that one time when Soobin accidentally put salt into a whole bowl of velvet cake dough for his birthday. He have to hold in his barf and laughter in front of their friends in order to maintain Soobin’s dignity. When his friends ask for their part of the cake, fortunately he managed to come up with an _acceptable_ excuse, “it’s better to eat it cold. It’s warm, let me put it in the fridge first,” and ended up with Soobin made a whole new cake quietly.

“Great times, Soob. Great times.”


	3. Chapter 3

The pitch black sky was hovering him. Being an umbrella above his tired being. Not a single spark of stars could be seen tonight. Capturing his presence in a semi-dark place. But those artificial lights not so far from where he settle, made his surroundings a little bit more _visible._

He looked up, closing his eyes while he heaves roughly. All course was done, dinner just ended an hour ago. Now, he sat upon a little hill behind the compound building—where soldiers stay and rest their bodies. He leaned his back against an old tree, gazing what was in front of him.

He could see everything from here. The field, main basecamp, dining hall, and training courses (there is this mud course where a squad of army could be seen, training in the dark).

“Faster, soldiers!” Coach’s orders could be heard from where he sat. Taehyun flinched. Those soldiers responded with the same enormous voices, “yes sir!”

He wondered sometimes why they have big voices, which could be heard from across the field. While his, just could be heard by the entire kitchen only. He even have to try that hard to scream across it.

Is it because of his foods? It’s confusing.

Another confusing thing is, why is he thinking about that? One random thought that isn’t really important to him. Taehyun furrowed his eyebrows, thinking to himself. But then a yawn came out from his lips.

The night wind really made him slurry somehow.

He started to close his eyes, letting sleep taking over him. Maybe he could rest for a minute here—even if it’s for hours, Soobin will look for him and carry him to his assigned compound.

“Wake up, Soldier Choi! Faster!” the blaring sound of the coach made him open his eyes abruptly. He blinked a few times and tried to see what’s happening down there. He saw a soldier doing push-ups while being stepped on his back.

“Oh, poor you, Soldier Choi,” Taehyun muttered to himself, looking at now already standing soldier with pity.

***

On the other hand, Beomgyu panted heavily, trying to steady his breath. His back hurts, as much as his limbs. It wasn’t his first time and not the hardest, but sure the most embarrassing one. He was exhausted—too exhausted that day. He couldn’t even stand properly. Yeonjun kept nudging his sides when he started to lose balance.

Is it because of the heat before? Maybe. He just wanted to lay his body over his bed and slept all night before morning comes. That is the only thing his brain could think of until he actually closed his eyes, imagining his bed.

And unfortunately, his coach caught him.

Stupid, he mentally facepalmed. He exhaled deeply, standing up straight.

Because of him, the whole squad had to bare with the consequences, hearing lectures about how tired a soldier will be when they’re already in the war zone. This training is nothing compared to that. It’s not a new thing for them. They’ve heard about it since the first time they stepped into the army.

Great, this night will be longer than they thought it would be.

Beomgyu couldn’t care less about that. It just came straight into his right ear and went out through his left ear, just like that. Nothing actually goes up to his brain and stayed there until his brain blacked out.

The lectures became blurry to his ears, and slowly turned into mumbling. His mind wandered somewhere else. And slowly his eyes adverted their gaze elsewhere, too. Not wanting to see his coach’s grumpy face anymore. It makes him want to puke.

His eyes found something interesting to look at. A little bit dark, but it surely shines brighter than any places here, according to him.

A hill, standing proudly with an old tree as it’s top.

Something inside him _sparked_ when his eyes landed on the hill. His face lit up in excitement. His body that only had ten percent of energy left, suddenly became thrilled and filled with it. Like electricity is running through his veins.

“Will he be there, tonight?” he mumbled, very slowly so none of his co-soldiers heard him.

His mind came in contact with a thing so vivid, but so fragile. Because he only had parts of it. He needed to get those pieces completed. So he waits, every night to see _him._

Before he went to sleep, he would look out the window and stared the hill behind his compound. And most of the nights, there will be someone upon that hill. He can’t see that someone clearly, it’s too dark.

He never went out to the hill as well. There’s a curfew here. It would literally risk his life if he went out from his compound late at night.

So there he was, lying on his bed, guessing who that mysterious man is. Always. Never had the courage to do more.

Beomgyu blinked his thoughts away. His coach were already done with the lecture. Now he’s telling everyone to continue their training. Starting over from the start of the course. Repeating the same sequence. Running and hide behind the bushes for three seconds, swinging above a muddy pool, crawling under the spiky fence, and ends up with climbing a fifty meter-tall tower.

***

It’s done. For freaking sake, the training is done.

When they were told to dismiss themselves, Beomgyu exhaled deeply. Grinning at the end, he couldn’t contain his happiness.

That didn’t last long, though. Not long after that, he received a smack on his head from Yeonjun.

“What was that for?!” he protested, rubbing his head.

“For sleeping, you dimwit. I had to listen to his tantrum in front of my face! I’m sure his saliva was all over my face now,” Yeonjun pointed to his face, which was covered with sweat and mud.

Beomgyu made a disgusted face, “ew? But they said body fluid is a new facial treatment.”

“Body fluid? What is the treatment called?” Yeonjun raised his eyebrows.

_“Semen facial,”_ Beomgyu answered seriously, but then he stifled a laugh.

Yeonjun looked at him, confused. But then his eyes went wide when he realized, “seriously, Choi? That’s a different _fluid_. It wasn’t even meant to be called a fluid from the beginning!”

Beomgyu laughed so hard, “it’s still from your body. And a liquid.”

“That is really disgusting. I don’t know you anymore,” Yeonjun walked past him.

Beomgyu followed his steps, still laughing his ass off, “your face already looks shinier from here, Yeonjun!”

“Go away!”


	4. Chapter 4

“Boys,” Hyunjin called his roommates, “anyone still alive?”

Groans and hums filled the room, indicating there were lots of souls who were not yet asleep.

“Why are you guys moaning and groaning like that? I’m not saying anything hot?” Hyunjin looked around their room. Then he felt a pillow landed on his face, thrown by his fellow upper bunk-bed, Seungmin.

“Can you just keep inside that unholy mind of yours for like a second of our life span here?” Seungmin rolled his eyes.

“Well, if that makes you simplified your way of talking, then I might consider it.” Hyunjin throw his pillow back.

Before Seungmin could jump across his bed towards Hyunjin, Yeonjun decided to butt in, “stop it. What is it, Hyunjin?”

“I heard there’s a new bar opened near our base,” that caused a lot more noise inside. A lot of coos and _oh_ filled the room.

“Should we—you know, check it out? And maybe have a couple of drinks?” Hyunjin was now sitting on the edge of his bed, waiting for a response.

Those groans and hums changed into somewhat _cheers_ and _let’s go_. Everyone seemed to love that plan. Except maybe for one person.

“Oh my god. Please guys, no. Don’t cause me any trouble again,” Yeonjun heaved a tired breathe, already seeing what is going to come.

“You’re no fun, Yeonjun.” Jisung started, and the others followed him like little ducklings following their mother.

Yeonjun didn’t care. He kept rejecting that so-called idea and emphasizing the _‘all of you could get me in trouble’._ He still denied even after Hyunjin convinced him that they won’t be caught.

Well, who could trust Hyunjin anyway?

“Come on, Yeonjun. It’s been a very long time since we had fun outside the base. Just please let us go this one time,” Minho was already in front of him, pleading with both hands clapped each other.

Yeonjun exhaled roughly, tired with his friends. He just wanted to take his mind off everything and enjoyed the darkness of the world when he sleeps. But now? He had to decide whether he would let his men leave or not.

He was deep in thought when Minho called him out, “so? Will you let us go?”

He let out his breath heavily, “fine. But don’t come to me if you’re in trouble. And I’ll stay here.”

“You sure you don’t want to come?”

“Yes, I don’t want to be involved.”

Hyunjin seemed a little bit disappointed, but then his frown turned upside down, “okay then boys, we ride tomorrow!”

Everyone was busy cheering and talking, excited for what will they conquer tomorrow. Not even paying any attention to the trouble they could cause, nor how they will get out from the base without getting caught by the guards.

The chaos that night didn’t bother Beomgyu at all. He didn’t even interested to go to that noisy place. More over to drink. Everyone knew he wasn’t a strong drinker, anyway.

Yet, one thought passed his mind that night. He could visit the hill. And he could meet that hill boy he was seeing every night, every day he had spent in the base.

He could climb the fence with his co-soldiers, but outside he would part ways with them. Spending the night on the hill wasn’t a bad idea.

Beomgyu smiled to himself.

***

The plan is to sneak outside the base in groups. Each group contains two until three people. They will sneak out after eleven, when all other squads had done their night training. They didn’t have any night training that day.

The only thing they need to conquer is the fence. It was guarded by armed soldiers. Not that much, but still. The consequences is not a thing to be proud of. It could be written in their track records. And it will effect their future.

Nonetheless, Yeonjun’s squad is the most rebellious in their batch.

Between the compounds is a little grass field with a very minimum light. They could walk across it with their disguising suit—dominant in black and green. With their training, they could move without making any sound. It’s not that hard to pass.

They had their doubts at first. But Hyunjin kept telling them that it’s okay, he got their backs. He is going to be the decoy.

_Well, that was actually making everyone doubt more_ —no. Everyone is fine with that.

Everyone is in their places, already wearing their black and green suit. Hyunjin and Seungmin were outside, preparing the firecrackers they’ll be using for distraction. Yeonjun didn’t say anything to them. He just stared from his upper bunk bed. Not wanting to care anymore. But then he sense movements from the lower bed.

“Not you too, Beomgyu,” he said with disappointment dripping from his voice.

Beomgyu looked up, sadness written all over his face, “I’m sorry, Jun. It’s my only chance to go outside.”

“What if you get caught? I can’t stand seeing you getting punished, Gyu,” Yeonjun climbed down, standing in front of him.

“I’m not going to get caught. I’m not going with them—well, I’m going outside the fence with them, but not gonna go to the bar.”

Yeonjun stayed silent, waiting for him to continue.

“I’m going to go to the hill, Yeonjun. The one behind our compound. I’m going to meet him.”

Yeonjun let out a heavy breath, “you’re gonna meet your ghost?”

“He’s not a ghost. How many times do I have to tell you that?” Beomgyu crossed his arms in front of his chest. Yeonjun just stared at him blankly.

“Look, I’m not going to get caught, okay? I’ll be very careful. Please let me go. This is my only chance to see him,” Beomgyu pleads.

Knowing Beomgyu, Yeonjun gave up and held out his pinky finger, “be careful. And don’t get caught. Promise?”

“Promise! Thank you, chief,” Beomgyu intertwined their pinkies. And he wrapped his arms around Yeonjun, giving him a big bear hug.

Yeonjun patted his back. He signaled him to go.

Beomgyu immediately catch up his friends, waving goodbye to his head soldier.


End file.
